Wagon Master
Screening on Film
Directed by John Ford.
With Harry Carey, Jr., Ben Johnson, Joanne Dru, Ward Bond.
US, 1950, 35mm, black & white, 86 min.
With Harry Carey, Jr., Ben Johnson, Joanne Dru, Ward Bond.
US, 1950, 35mm, black & white, 86 min.
Seeing a Western as an adult that one worshipped as a child can be a disappointing experience. The pictures often prove klunky, abominably acted, and infantile. Ford’s lovely Wagon Master is that rare exception. It contains that purity and boy-scout ingenuousness which we associate with Westerns for children, but it is marvelously executed and perfectly entertaining for adults also. The story: two roaming cowhands (Johnson, Carey, Jr.) join a Mormon wagon train heading for the frontier, and meet a pretty girl (Dru).
